In the health documentary That Sugar Film, writer and director Damon Gameau enlists the help of Stephen Fry, Hugh Jackman and leading scientists around the world to shine a light on the terrible effects of sugar. In a Supersize Me-style experiment, he changes his diet to include 40 teaspoons of sugar a day for 60 days - the average daily sugar intake in Australia - and monitors the effect on his body. But here is the catch - he cannot eat chocolate, sweets, ice cream or cake; the sugar must come from 'healthy' foods. In this illustrated That Sugar Book, Damon explains how sugar damages our bodies and our minds, and how easy it is to consume sugar without even knowing it. Revealing the astonishing amounts of sugar hidden in supposedly healthy foods on supermarket shelves - such as low-fat yoghurt, muesli and children's fruit snacks - Damon makes us realise the damage we unknowingly do to ourselves and our families when we make poor food choices, and shows us how to make it right. With an up-close account of Damon's sugar experiment, and sugar-free recipes to help you wean off the white stuff, That Sugar Book is a startling wake-up call to those of us who have never questioned what's really in our food.

The modern successor to Sweetness and Power, James Walvin’s Sugar is a rich and engaging work on a topic that continues to change our world. How did a simple commodity, once the prized monopoly of kings and princes, become an essential ingredient in the lives of millions, before mutating yet again into the cause of a global health epidemic? Prior to 1600, sugar was a costly luxury, the domain of the rich. But with the rise of the sugar colonies in the New World over the following century, sugar became cheap, ubiquitous and an everyday necessity. Less than fifty years ago, few people suggested that sugar posed a global health problem. And yet today, sugar is regularly denounced as a dangerous addiction, on a par with tobacco. While sugar consumption remains higher than ever—in some countries as high as 100lbs per head per year—some advertisements even proudly proclaim that their product contains no sugar. How did sugar grow from prize to pariah? Acclaimed historian James Walvin looks at the history of our collective sweet tooth, beginning with the sugar grown by enslaved people who had been uprooted and shipped vast distances to undertake the grueling labor on plantations. The combination of sugar and slavery would transform the tastes of the Western world. Masterfully insightful and probing, James Walvin reveals the relationship between society and sweetness over the past two centuries—and how it explains our conflicted relationship with sugar today.

It’s no surprise that sugar has been on our minds for millennia. First cultivated in New Guinea around 8,000 B.C.E., this addictive sweetener has since come to dominate our appetites—whether in candy, desserts, soft drinks, or even pasta sauces—for better and for worse. In this book, Andrew F. Smith offers a fascinating history of this simultaneously beloved and reviled ingredient, holding its incredible value as a global commodity up against its darker legacies of slavery and widespread obesity. As Smith demonstrates, sugar’s past is chockfull of determined adventurers: relentless sugar barons and plantation owners who worked alongside plant breeders, food processors, distributors, and politicians to build a business based on our cravings. Exploring both the sugarcane and sugar beet industries, he tells story after story of those who have made fortunes and those who have met demise all because of sugar’s simple but profound hold on our palates. Delightful and surprisingly action-packed, this book offers a layered and definitive tale of sugar and the many people who have been caught in its spell—from barons to slaves, from chefs to the countless among us born with that insatiable devil, the sweet tooth.

From the best-selling author of Why We Get Fat, a groundbreaking, eye-opening exposé that makes the convincing case that sugar is the tobacco of the new millennium: backed by powerful lobbies, entrenched in our lives, and making us very sick. Among Americans, diabetes is more prevalent today than ever; obesity is at epidemic proportions; nearly 10% of children are thought to have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. And sugar is at the root of these, and other, critical society-wide, health-related problems. With his signature command of both science and straight talk, Gary Taubes delves into Americans' history with sugar: its uses as a preservative, as an additive in cigarettes, the contemporary overuse of high-fructose corn syrup. He explains what research has shown about our addiction to sweets. He clarifies the arguments against sugar, corrects misconceptions about the relationship between sugar and weight loss; and provides the perspective necessary to make informed decisions about sugar as individuals and as a society.

Sugar Legowski-Gracia wasn't always fat, but fat is what she is now at age seventeen. Not as fat as her mama, who is so big she hasn't gotten out of bed in months. Not as heavy as her brother, Skunk, who has more meanness in him than fat, but she's l

In the weeks and months after the end of the Spanish-American War, Americans celebrated their nation's triumph by eating sugar. Each of the nation's new imperial possessions, from Puerto Rico to the Philippines, had the potential for vastly expanding sugar production. As victory parties and commemorations prominently featured candy and other sweets, Americans saw sugar as the reward for their global ambitions. April Merleaux demonstrates that trade policies and consumer cultures are as crucial to understanding U.S. empire as military or diplomatic interventions. As the nation's sweet tooth grew, people debated tariffs, immigration, and empire, all of which hastened the nation's rise as an international power. These dynamics played out in the bureaucracies of Washington, D.C., in the pages of local newspapers, and at local candy counters. Merleaux argues that ideas about race and civilization shaped sugar markets since government policies and business practices hinged on the racial characteristics of the people who worked the land and consumed its products. Connecting the history of sugar to its producers, consumers, and policy makers, Merleaux shows that the modern American sugar habit took shape in the shadow of a growing empire.

100 of the best cake, pie, cookie, bar, and candy recipes from two sassy sugar mommas (and one of Oprah’s favorite candy makers) on a mission to preserve America’s best heirloom sweets and the even sweeter stories behind them. "The mission of the 'Sugar Mommas'...is to bring readers vintage treats and the stories behind them. The result is a book filled with tempting cakes, pies, cookies, and candies. These ladies don't always follow the rules, and it's refreshing to see that their approach to baking comes with a sense of humor." --The Philadelphia Inquirer "Part retro, part contemporary and charmingly whimsical cookies, pies and bars share space with candies, cakes and more in such favorites as Gran's Tea Cakes, Cracked Sugar Cookies, Kentucky Derby Bars, Chocolate Hydrogen Bombs and Lucinda Bells $100 Pecan Pie....The Sugar Mommas dish out helpful hints throughout the book. Did you know that a 9-by-13-inch pan holds 15 cups, a 9-by-2-inch round cake pan 8 cups?" --San Antonio Express-News Sugar, Sugar offers 100 of the best cake, pie, cookie, bar, and candy recipes from two sassy Sugar Mommas, Kimberly Reiner and Jenna Sanz-Agero, who are on a mission to preserve America's best sweet treat recipes and the even sweeter stories behind them. As the Sugar Mommas explain, "We drove down memory lane to discover our sugar inheritance, and then dug into everyone else's past to find their dusty, torn, and butter-crusted index cards." What the Sugar Mommas found was that every recipe has a story. From desserts that accompanied families through good and bad times, to treats perfected by domestic help, to never-before-transcribed sugar concoctions developed from wild imaginations, each recipe conveys the unique personality of the friend or family member who created it. With plenty of pies worth the lie, cakes to diet for, and better-than-nooky cookies, as well as an assortment of cobblers, crisps, bars, and other decadent confections, Sugar, Sugar is sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.